6 Month Portraits

We did Mikaela's 6 month portraits, courtesy of Sears Portrait Studio. Enjoy!

A New Food

Today we tried carrots for the first time. She didn't make near as many faces. So either she likes it or she is just used to eating baby food. We'll see what tomorrow brings. The newest thing she has learned is to spit so half the food gets sprayed back out. I guess I better get a poncho.

A Girl and Her Dog

Peas Anyone?

6 month stats

Today was Mikaela's six month appointment at the pediatrician.

Weight - 13 lb 14oz (15%)
Length - 26 1/4 (75%)
Head - 16 3/8 (25%)

Everything is looking good. She is growing along her curve and all appropriate milestones seem to be occurring as they should. She did very well with the shots, only crying a short time.

She does have thrush again, which is no fun, but it doesn't slow her down too much, just makes eating a little more of a chore.

No teeth yet and I suspect we have a little longer on that but we will start veggies this weekend to go along with her rice. Stay tuned for pictures.

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to every mother today. I have been truly blessed this Mother's Day. First, Mikaela slept 7 hrs last night from 10 to 5. It wasn't her longest stretch ever, but her best timed. At 5 when she woke to eat, I fed her for a few moments before she drifted off to sleep again. Instead of putting her back down as I usually do, I rocked her for a few moments. Her head against my shoulder, I smiled and prayed softly thanking Jesus for the gift of Mikaela. It was a perfect way to start my first Mother's Day. I know as she grows, the opportunities to hold her like that will quickly fade so I cherish every chance I get.

After church we spent lunch time with Graem-ma, Graempa and Aunt Amy. Here are some pictures from the afternoon.

6 Months Old (and a day)

Mikaela is 6 months old now. How time flies!
- She rolls around everywhere, but still no crawling. She continues to try every time we set her down, but she doesn't quite have it yet.
- She can sit up briefly if we put her in a sitting position. She is also practicing to sit up on her own but has a ways to go on that one.
- She babbles a lot. Lately we've heard a lot of "mmm" and "ba ba"
- Sleep is going much better. She goes down between 7 and 8 and gets up between 6 and 7 the next morning with usually only one night time feed anywhere between 1 and 4. If she wakes up at 1, occasionally she gets up again around 5 but I can usually get her back down quickly to sleep until 7 while I get ready for work.
- Most of her bottles are 8 oz now and she takes 2 tsp of cereal a day. We will probably start other baby food soon (pictures to come).
- Her favorite activity when not on the floor is her exersaucer. She can spend long periods of time in there. In fact, she can often be found in one of those at church on Sundays as well.
- We don't think she's quite ready for teeth, though she drools constantly and puts anything she can in her mouth to chew on. I'm sure it's coming...

She is the light of our lives and we are so blessed by God's gift of a child! We love our "Beautiful Angel."

K-9 Kerplunk

On Saturday, we took Cocoa Bean swimming at K-9 Kerplunk in Plano. This time around, she knew exactly what to do and was ready to jump in the water after a toy. These events are always amusing. Probably 85% of the dogs there are some kind of lab mix and of the dogs around us, Cocoa Bean was the only one who was actually retrieving anything. The rest of the dogs splashed around and played with each other. Not Cocoa Bean... Oh well. At least she got a good swim.

Mikaela enjoyed watching everything as well. She kicked and swatted her hands most of the hour we were there.